Chicago area man builds wooden crosses for victims of Vegas shooting

(FOX 32) - A Chicago area man known for his wooden cross memorials is working on a new display for the victims in Las Vegas.

In the past two decades, Greg Zanis has built more than 20,000 crosses and now more are heading to Las Vegas to memorialize the shooting victims.

"I don't have any answers and I wish I could never do it again," said Zanis Tuesday night while finishing the crosses. "I'm looking here and each one of these is a family member."

The retired carpenter builds them from scratch inside his Aurora workshop, gives them a fresh coat of white paint and attaches a big red heart to the front.

"I see him working and he was by himself and he needed help and we always stop by, people stop by all the time," said volunteer and friend Enrique Padilla.

On Monday morning, Zanis had another visitor, the owner of Archangels Biorecovery, an Aurora crime scene cleanup company, who donated gas money for the 1,700 mile trip to Las Vegas.

With the community backing him, Zanis continues to build working through his own grief for his murdered father-in-law 20 years ago.

He takes his compassion on the road - sharing his cross displays at scenes of mass shootings around the country, most recently in Orlando at the Pulse Nightclub shooting and last December in downtown Chicago for the hundreds of people shot and killed in 2016."I see him working and he was by himself and he needed help and we always stop by, people stop by all the time," said volunteer and friend Enrique Padilla.

On Monday morning, Zanis had another visitor, the owner of Archangels Biorecovery, an Aurora crime scene cleanup company, who donated gas money for the 1,700 mile trip to Las Vegas.

With the community backing him, Zanis continues to build working through his own grief for his murdered father-in-law 20 years ago.

He takes his compassion on the road - sharing his cross displays at scenes of mass shootings around the country, most recently in Orlando at the Pulse Nightclub shooting and last December in downtown Chicago for the hundreds of people shot and killed in 2016.

He plans to keep the tribute up for 40 days before giving the crosses to the families of the victims.

You can help support his trip to Las Vegas HERE.